A Hospital Bedside Chat
by VMaddict
Summary: Duncan visits Logan in the hospital for the first time since Aaron was arrested.


I was thinking about the D/L friendship and was wondering how Duncan would react to Logan after finding out about Aaron, so I decided to write about it. Obviously, this takes place after 'Leave it to Beaver'. Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Veronica Mars or anything associated or affiliated with it though I wouldn't mind renting Logan for a few hours ;)

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He had been pacing outside the closed hospital room for the past hour trying to work up the courage to knock. He wasn't sure why he was dreading this so much but it was something he knew he would eventually have to do and after putting it off for two weeks, he knew it was time. Taking a deep breath to summon all of his courage, he gently knocked on the door loud enough to hear but not loud enough to wake him if he was sleeping.

After hearing a raspy 'come in', Duncan opened the door to reveal his best friend lying in the hospital bed. Duncan knew that Logan's injuries had been serious but he hadn't known the extent of them until that moment. Logan had wires protruding from him that were hooked up to the several machines next to the bed. His left leg was covered with a white cast and elevated and a similar type of cast was also covering his right arm. There were tubes in his nose to help him breathe, cuts and bruises covering his face and the rest of his exposed flesh, his left eye was swollen shut while his right eye was just severely bruised. Finally, there was a gash along the right side of his face that had been recently sewn up.

Several moments later, after Duncan and taken in the battered body of his best friend from the door way, he walked toward the bed and settled in the seat next to it. "So, how are you feeling?"

"Like a gang of motorcycle thugs beat me within an inch of my life. You?"

Duncan closed his eyes, internally berating himself for asking such an obvious question. Seeing that Logan had just finished his lunch, he decided to continue with the small talk. "How's the food?"

"Surprisingly edible. For the first week, I was unconscious so I was fed through an IV. The first two days after I woke up, I had so much trouble feeding myself using my left hand that the nurse had to feed me like I was a toddler. Eventually though I got the hang of it, so I get to eat like a big boy now. I guess I got lucky though."

"How so?"

"At least they didn't break my jaw or something worse like that. I could be eating out of a straw."

Duncan just nodded. "So I guess this is all the handiwork of Weevil and his gang?"

"Yeah. Apparently Weevil overheard Veronica talking to her dad about how I killed Lilly and they wanted to ensure that justice was served."

"Veronica thought that you were the one that killed Lilly?" Logan nodded. "Wow. Maybe we should form some sort of club."

Logan smiled weakly, "well, I guess it's not like she didn't have a good reason to accuse us. I lied about my alibi and you didn't even remember what happened."

"So, have you seen or talked to your Dad since you've been in here?"

"No. He tried to call a few times but I just hang up on him. As far as I'm concerned, he can rot in jail for the rest of his life. Better yet, maybe he'll get the death penalty. The world would be a much better place when he dies." Logan sighed, trying to keep his anger in check. "Actually, you're my first visitor since I've been in here."

Needless to say, Duncan was surprised by this confession. "Mr. Mars was in the hospital for the first few days you were in here. Maybe she stopped by while you were in your coma."

"No. The nurses all told me that no one stopped by while I was in the coma. Besides, she and I didn't part amicably the last time we talked."

"I guess that's understandable. What about Trina or Dick and the Beav?"

Logan just shook his head. "Trina has been busy doing the talk show circuit to talk about what it was like to have a murderer for a father and I'm pretty sure everyone else has better things to do than hang out with the son of Lilly's murderer."

"Logan, that has nothing to do with you. You didn't kill Lilly. You didn't know she was having an affair with your Dad. You didn't even know about the cameras he set up in the pool house. It's not your fault. Nobody blames you."

"I should have seen it though. I knew she was cheating on me. I should have looked into it more. If I had, I would have found out it was my father and I could have put a stop to it before she threatened him and he reacted by killing her." A thought suddenly occurred to him, "do you think my Mom knew about him and Lilly? I mean, she knew about all of his other affairs, it would make sense that she knew about Lilly too."

"I doubt it. I mean, do you really think your own mother would have stood by and let him hurt you like that? If she knew, she would have either stopped him or told you about it."

Logan nodded knowing that Duncan was probably right. "So how's she doing?"

Duncan looked at Logan in confusion. "Who? Your mom?"

Logan rolled his eyes. "No. Veronica. Is she okay?"

"I guess she's doing as good as can be expected. She was pretty shaken when I saw her as they were arresting your Dad. Apparently he locked her in a box and set it on fire. If Mr. Mars wouldn't have shown up when he did, she probably would have died of smoke inhalation."

Logan ran his left hand (the good one) through his hair in frustration. "Damn that bastard! Despite our ups and downs, I was happy with Lilly. I loved her so much. But I guess that doesn't matter to him because he killed her anyway. Then, I finally move on from Lilly and I wasn't miserable for the first time since her death. He even made a comment to Veronica about how he could see how happy she made me, but I guess that didn't matter either and he almost kills her too! His reputation has always taken precedent over the happiness of his own son. Veronica probably hates me now."

"She doesn't hate you. If she didn't hate you for the hell you put her through for the year after Lilly died and was even willing to be your girlfriend despite that, she's not going to hate you for something your father did to her. She's better than that. I can tell she cares about you and it's been a really tough two weeks, which is probably why she hasn't had a chance to see you. But, I'm sure she's glad that she's finally getting justice for Lilly after all this time. She and her dad were so sure it wasn't Abel Koontz who killed Lilly and everyone just turned their backs on them, even Mrs. Mars. That didn't stop them though. You really have to commend their tenacity."

Logan nodded in agreement. "Tenacious is definitely one was to describe the Mars family. Stubborn is another."

"I'm really sorry it took me so long to visit you. I wanted to, I really did but with finding out your dad killed Lilly and everything going on with my parents, it been a tough two weeks. But, still. You're my best friend. We've been best friends for what seems like forever and I wasn't there for you when you needed me. I'm really sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it, man. You're here now and that's all that matters to me. I just want you to know that I'm really sorry that my dad was the one who caused your family so much pain."

"Yeah, you too." The two boys sat there in silence for several minutes absorbing each others words. Finally, Duncan looked down at his watch and realized it was getting late. "Well, I better get going. Take care of yourself man and I'll stop by sometime tomorrow." Duncan slapped Logan's hand and proceeded to the door. He opened the door but stopped himself from walking through it. He turned around to face Logan one last time. "Don't worry about Veronica. She'll come around eventually." Logan nodded and Duncan left the room, closing the door behind him.

Logan starred off into space thinking about what Duncan said. 'I hope Duncan's right because I care about her so much. I just hope she comes around before I get released because I don't know if I can survive without her on the outside. The hospital is like a sanctuary and it's enabling me to not fully process what Dad has done, but on the outside, nothing can protect me and she's the only one who will be able to get me through it.'

Exhausted both emotionally and physically, Logan fell asleep and dreamt of the day when he would be reunited with his Ronnie.


End file.
